Ferry services on the Hooghly, now powered by diesel, will go electric, a senior state government official said on Tuesday.
The transport department has signed a contract with Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE) to design a prototype of electric ferries, which are to be delivered soon.
The managing director of the West Bengal Transport Corporation, Rajanvir Singh Kapur, told a workshop that the corporation had placed orders for electric ferries with GRSE and they would be deployed on the Hooghly once the prototype passed an evaluation.
“We are going to have electric mobility in the waterways in the next few months,” Kapur said.
The zero-emission electric ferry will be powered by a 210 kWh liquid-cooled energy storage solution and have solar panels mounted on the roof. It will be 24 metres long with an aluminium catamaran hull and twin propellers.
Its piercing hull design will allow an operating speed of 8 knot (around 15kmph) and a maximum of 10 knot (around 18.5kmph).
According to a source, GRSE’s in-house design team has completed work on such a vessel and it will be constructed following the rules of the classification society for such a class of passenger vessels. The keel for the electric ferry boat was laid out in January.
Kapur said: “Decarbonising the waterway transport is part of the green project for the transport sector. It will revolutionise the water transport system in this region and support the country’s efforts to reduce its emission and carbon footprints, changing the lives of the people in the city.”
Ferry services along the Hooghly are a lifeline for thousands of commuters and there is tremendous scope for improvement. The vessels that operate now have diesel engines and cause severe pollution, environmentalists have said.
Once the prototype of the green ferry completes trials successfully, more vessels can be ordered to replace the entire fleet of diesel-guzzlers, a senior state official said.
The workshop was conducted by the British deputy high commission along with the West Bengal Council of Technical & Vocational Education and Skill Development.